Railroads
Screw Spike and Spring Washer Hold-Down Force and Resiliency Investigation
The Rail Transportation Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois (Illinois) is investigating spike failures in timber tie track to determine the root cause(s) and develop failure prevention strategies. This research is part of an ongoing investigation into spike failures...
Rail Force Measurement and Fastener Load Demand at Horseshoe Curve
In 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Association of American Railroads completed short-term field experiments to measure the rail forces in steep grades and high-degree curvature on Norfolk Southern Railway. This experiment was conducted to understand the rail stress distribution...
CIVA-UT Model Validation for Rail Flaw Inspection Simulation
In 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contracted with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to conduct validation studies of CIVA software’s rail models for hand-held, angled beam, shear vertical wave (SW) inspections. The research team generated side-drilled holes (SDHs) at...